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I've been getting after the summer practice sessions pretty hard and really focusing on 40-60yrd shots. It looks like it's paying off (our costing me $) depending how you look at it. I think I need to stop shooting at the same dot at 20yrds.

Lac Seul 2010

We left MN around noon on Thursday, May 20 for our annual fishing trip to Lac Seul. Riding up with me was Dawger and Nissan. The first day we drive to the birth place of the legendry Chris Pronger (that would be Dryden, Ontario if you live with your head in the sand) and stay over night in a hotel. On the way, we took our usual lunch stop at the Sawmill in lovely Virginia, MN. If you are ever driving through Virginia I highly recommend stopping at “The Mill.” You will get a great meal and fall in love all at the same place. We arrived in Dryden around 6 PM. Just in time for a couple beers and dinner. Wildlife sightings on the drive up included a deer and one black bear.

We woke up early on Friday morning and finished the rest of the drive. We arrived at Sioux Lookout Floating Lodge in Hudson, Ontario shortly before 10 AM. Our house boat was steaming towards the whales tail at high noon. In 6 hours we would be let off the house boat to start our week of fishing. Below is a pic of a cow moose I took from the car while driving to Hudson on Friday morning.


5/21/10- We only got a couple hours of fishing the first night. Nissan, Dawger and I went “Okie” the first night. After talking over several spots Nissan and Al made the call to try the backside of “X-Point”. The first 15 to 20 minutes was fairly slow, but things gradually heated up as the sun started to set. Around 8:30 I made the call to switch spots on the lake. Nissan quickly talked me out of it and that ended up being the best call of the week. Just minutes later I set the hook on a 29 inch walleye. Once again Nissan had earned his lucky charm award. The 29 inch walleye ended up holding on to the biggest fish award for the entire week. “Man, I am a great fisherman!” Below is a pic of the big girl. Mexicutioner!

5/22/10- Day #2 found Nissan, Dawger and I in the boat together again. With the warm water we decided to head into South Bay. Dawger pulled out a chipper in the first couple of minutes and it was all down hill from there. We basically spent the next two hours catching no fish. After wearing me down, Dawger finally had our boat headed to the Rapidoes. For the 2nd time in as many days my boat boys had made a great call. We never landed any hogs up in the rapids, but spent the rest of the day pulling in walleyes. It was the best action we had in the rapids since the legendry year of 2005.

5/23/10- Day #3 I was in the boat with Pops and Nissan. We started the day casting for Pike down in the bay near Musky Rock. Other than a couple little guys, nothing wanted to play. Next we tried Banana Boat Island (Eagle Island for ladies on the trip). The waves where crashing into the west point of the island and the three of us pounded the walleyes for the next hour. Below is a pic of Nissan with one of the many fish we landed at Banana Island. Things slowed down and we moved on. Later that afternoon I ended up boating a 25 inch walleye (pic #2 below) but for the life of me I can't remember where it was caught. Len also had a huge walleye on earlier in the day, but horsed him and lost it. Dawger said it was shocking how badly that huge fish was horsed.

Later that evening Nissan and I fished Tity Point. Things where slow to start with but really heated up once the sun set. We moved into 5 feet of water and proceeded to pull fish after fish into the boat. We got to enjoy the romantic sunset below and a 26 inch walleye. It was a fun night of fishing.

5/24/10- Day #4- We woke up to some cloudy skies and weather off in the distance. I spent the day fishing with Denny and Pops. We started the day fishing the backside of “X-Point”. Action was steady, but nothing great. Next we moved on to Picnic Point. We did have some action at Picnic, but my two companions couldn’t keep their jigs out of the rocks. Jenkins would have been proud. Next we stopped at Dot Com and the action was hot. We had great luck until a squall moved in (the below pic is the squall right before its 40 MPH winds hit the Tin Boat).

Once the squall hit, we had 40 to 50 mph winds and had to take cover in a nearby cove. Rain and Lighting moved in and that was it for fishing on day #4. Below is a pic of Dawger and Nissan relaxing with a premixed and Corinita, listening to our Lac Seul Jukebox after another round of Yahtzee . Thanks again to Jacie for letting us use his waterproof Ipod Station.

5/25/10- Day #5- Nissan, Dawger and I where back in the boat together. This was Schmidts dream day of fishing, no clouds and 83 degrees. We headed way south into the narrows to try a couple spots Len and Carl had fished the day before. Thanks again to Len and Carl for not clearing their spots from the GPS, “Suckers!” Fishing was slow and other than watching my old man run Mike’s boat over a huge rock, nothing big happened. We headed back north and stopped at Banana Boat Island. Carl tipped us off to fishing the West side of the island (sand bar) and his tip really paid off. The three of us ended up boating 75 to 80 fish in one hour. Nothing of great size, but solid fish and great action. Below is a pic of Dawger with his biggest Fish of the trip. That fat little jumbo is sitting in my freezer waiting for Pete to stuff in his gullet. We stopped at Musky Rock for the last hour of the afternoon. We went from jigging for Walleye to casting for Pike after Dawger got a huge 40+ inch pike to follow a spoon right up to the boat. The fish was kind enough to lay right below the boat for a couple seconds before sinking back to the bottom of the lake. Dawger almost had a true Lac Seul giant.

That evening Dawger stayed on the houseboat and listened to 5 innings of the Twins vs. Yankees game. Nissan and I headed back to Tity Point and once again nailed the walleye in 5 to 6 feet of water from sunset until dark. We didn’t catch anything huge, but all good size fish.

5/26/10- Day #6- Nissan and I took a trip with the Lac Seul tour guide (Len). We started out down in South Bay casting for smallmouth bass. Nissan and I had more snags than smallies, but we did each land a smallie. Below is the pic of my bass.

We moved on to a couple of Len’s other south bay hot spots. We started at Z Rock where Nissan and I caught several post slot fish. Action was steady but not great. We also bumped into Carl and Dawger and found out that earlier in the day Dawger had landed a fat 26 ¾ inch walleye at the crab claw. A picture of Dawgers fish will hopefully follow later. It is now later and here is Dawgers picture.

After that, the three of us stopped at a couple other spots including Death Rock and some island near sea gull island. Although we did catch fish, nothing was big and numbers where low. I was able to snap a quick pic of Nissan playing the 'Walleye Guitar". Eat Ted Nuggent!

That evening three of our boats went down to Musky Rock. Nissan , Len and I braved the waves on the west side of the island and caught fish steadily all night. I ended up boating my 2nd biggest fish of the trip. A fat ole 26.5 inch walleye.

5/27/10- Day #7- The last day we only get to fish until 11 AM because our houseboat heads back for the dock at noon. Pops, Mike and I headed out for the morning fish. We stopped at a new spot on the way to Musky Rock. The night before Len had pointed the spot out and said it looked like it might be good. Fishing was steady the entire time we fished the new spot and Mike had a big girl on but lost her half way up, ‘School Boy!” We finished the day by fishing around Musky Rock and a new shoreline east of Musky Rock. Below is a pic of LJ and I with a double on the last morning.

2010 Yatzee Results…….
Week Long Champion- Scott E.
Elimi-Yatzee Champion- Carl K.

Overall it was a great trip and our week flew by. I am already looking forward to our 2011 trip. Hopefully spring will come a little later in Ontario and a few more big girls will still be active.

And Yes, the service at the Sawmill was just as good on the way home!

Lastly, Below is a picture of a Sauger that Dawger caught during the trip. Our best guess is the fish swam through the oil spill in the gulf of mexico as it migrated to Lac Seul. How else can you explain that?

MO Redemption

5/8/10 (Happy Birthday Pops!)- The 2010 MO turkey season has been difficult to say the least. Work has severely limited the amount of time I would have normally spent in the MO woods chasing gobblers this spring. Add a little bit of bad luck on top of that and I was facing my first MO season without harvesting a bird in tens years....luckily that streak will continue!

This story actually started two weeks ago. I was determined to harvest a gobbler with my bow this spring and have dedicated every hunt until this morning to accomplishing that goal. On the first Saturday of the season I had a dominate bird work into the decoys and right as I touched off the shot he took a half turn and my arrow shot right through his breast plate, but didn't put him down. To say I was dejected would have been an understatement. Since then I've had several birds working, but just couldn't seal the deal.

With only two days left in the 2010 Mo season, my game plan changed a bit. I loaded up the Nelli this morning instead of the bow and planned to be aggressive if the opportunity presented itself. I arrived at our new urban honey hole around 5am and slipped into the far west fields and waited for the MO morning to come to life. It was cool, clear and windy this morning and it didn't take long for the darkness to fade into early morning light.

At 6:20am I heard the first gobble on the roost and I immediately set off in that direction. My plan was to sneak within 100yrds. or so of the roosted gobbler and setup. I cut about half the distance between me and the bird in short order and let out a few soft clucks on my new custom VECtor glass slate call. Immediately the gobbler cut me off with a double gobble. He still sounded like he was a good distance off, so continued to move in on his location. What I didn't realize was that the wind made the ol' tom sound further away than he really was. I had covered another 80yrds. and snuck into a shallow ditch that ran between two green fields. I thought the bird should have been within 100yrds of me at this point, but to my surprise he was A LOT closer! I let out a couple of light purrs and clucks and the tom fired up about 35-40yrds north of me. I had some how manged to sneak into his bedroom without him picking me off.

I continued to lightly purr and cluck on the VECtor slate and the ol' tom continued to cut off almost every call with a thunderous gobble. After a couple minutes I heard a hen cluck and then four birds pitched out of tree 40yrds west of the gobblers location. They were all hens and they glided past my ambush spot about 50yrds. into the field. The tom continued to hammer on the roost and I knew it wasn't going to be much longer before he pitched down and started to round up his ladies. After about 2-3 minutes I finally heard his wings flapping through the leaves as he left his roost. He must have really liked my calling, because he pitched down within 17 steps of my setup, instead of following the hens. He landed and immediately went into half strut and I immediately took him right out of it. I don't even think he had a chance to get the morning dew on his feet before the Nelli laid the smack down on him.

He is my biggest turkey to date 24lbs., 12" beard, and 1 1/2" hooks. After taking some pictures and getting the bird tagged I noticed a wound on his chest. This is the same gobbler I hit with my bow two weeks ago...so there was a bit of redemption after missing him the first time.

Seed Is Planted In MN!

Logan and I made it out to the Annandale property Friday afternoon. Things couldn't have worked out better. The area received a nice rainfall this morning and another light rain this afternoon. Perfect conditions for spreading seed on my food plot.

Logan and I arrived at the property around 4 PM. After raking out bumps and removing any grass that was on the plot it was time to spread seed. I planted 1/2 the plot with Evolve Habitat clover with a small bag of Biologic Brassica mixed in. The other half of the plot was seeded with Whitetail Institute Imperial Clover. Just for fun Logan and I also planted a small pack of sweet corn and sunflowers in the plot. We are suppose to receive another rain this evening which should be perfect for the plot.

I need to make another trip out to the property on Monday to fertiize the plot with a 13-13-13 fertilizer.

Logan and I walked the property a bit before heading home. The deer sign in the area looks good and my mineral sites are really getting hit hard. I pulled both the cards from my trail cameras but found out I had a bad pack of batteries. Both camera's died after a couple of days. I did get several good pics. Below are a couple of the photos from the Cuddybacks.

Logan fired a couple .22 shots in the dump and we called it a night. We got a lot of work done and had a fun afternoon.

Update 5/2/10- I ended up having a couple free hours on Sunday afternoon so I headed back to the Annandale property. I fertilized the new plot and also hit my existing plot with some 10-10-10 fertilizer. I also updated the software on both of my Cuddybacks to help insure longer battery life. The mineral sites are continuing to get hit hard. I also walked the far southeast corner of the porperty and found a nice location for another set. Otherwise nothing much had changed since Friday afternoon. I won't be back until June 1.

First Minny-Mo gobbler of the 2010 season

The day started with me driving the girls to school and daycare. After dropping off my two baby dolls I headed to the office. On my way to the office I decided to drive by the new farm and check the fields. As I drove by one of the fields I spotted three toms and five hens. Instead of heading into work, I was heading out huntin! I raced back home, grabbed my gear and within 30 minutes I was back at the farm.

The birds were still in the field, so I made a big loop along the north side of the property. By the time I got to my first ambush point the birds had moved off the field. I could see the field to the east with no sign of the birds, so I started my sneak towards the western fields. I got to the second glassing spot so I could see in the west field and sure enough the birds were about 125yrds to the south. A big, deep ditch ran along the field edge the birds were working, so I decided to put the sneak on. I figured there was no chance of the Toms leaving their ladies so a sneak was my best and only option.

The ditch was massive with 15–20" sides, but luckily there was a tree about halfway up the west edge where the birds had hung up. Once I got a ways down the ditch I raised up over the ditch lip and spotted the long beards about 45 yrds. out and feeding right to me. I repositioned myself for a shot and waited as the birds closed another 15yrds on my position. After picking out the largest bird, I touched off the shot! The Nelli and Federal #5’s put the hurt on the ol' long Dong Tom and team MinnyMo had bird number one ready for a ride in the back of the truck!

Right after the shot the other two Tom birds jumped on their fallen comrade and started gobbling, pecking, and scratching the dead bird. It was an amazing sight! I've been hunting turkeys for a long time and this is the first time I'd ever seen that. It was great ending to another successful turkey hunt!

22 Lbs.
10' Beard
1" spurs

Spring Pheasant Shoot

Once again Deny purchased my birds at a game farm in Ogilvy, MN as a birthday present. Logan and I headed up to the game farm along with Denny and six others on Sunday morning, 4/11/10. After shooting a couple clay pigeons we headed out to our fields for the mornings “hunt.”

We had great weather and warm temps, an absolutely perfect spring morning. The fields we walked where a mix of sorghum and cut corn. The fields where in great shape and had plenty of cover. This made for some realistic conditions and a great backdrop for watching the two dogs work. As a group we purchased 32 birds and ended up bagging 31 of them. Not to bad considering some of the shots that where in the crew. Below are a few photos of the days shoot.

MO 2010 Pre-season preperation

4/10/10 - I headed up to the North MO property early Saturday to scout turkeys, work on stands, freshen up the mineral sites, and hopefully locate a shed or two. I had planned to be at the farm before sunrise, but that didn't happen. So most the turkey scouting was put on the back burner. I did see several strutters right around the property, so there should be plenty of action for the 2010 season.

My first task was to freshen up the mineral site from last year and put the Cuddy up to start documenting antler development. I was pleasantly suprised at the amount of sign around the area. The deer had the trail leading to the site worn slick with tracks and the ground around the lick was covered in tracks and fur. I reset the Cuddy in the same spot that I captured all of bucks on last season.

Task #2 on the day was to hang a new set in the immediate area of the lick, however there isn't a tree within 80yrds. that is suitable for hanging a stand. So I used the natural surroundings and created a wicked ground blind from a cedar that lost it's top this winter. I still need to do little work on it, but I'm excited about the potential for this fall. We've had a lot of activity in this part on the farm over the past two seasons.

After working on the new ground blind I started in on adjusting and hanging some new sets. I pulled the north field set and moved it up onto the river bank. This new postion will allow us to hunt the set with any type of south, west, or east wind. It also puts us behind the two main trails that cut the corner of the field. There will be some does in trouble if they repeat last years travel patterns.

I also hung a new set 90yrds east of the "Beach" set. The amount of sign in the area was crazy and there are three major trials that meet up about 23yrds in front of the new location. It will be ideal for late October - November when we start getting hit with the north winds.

After that I pulled down several of the non-producing sets and the two stands that need to be repaired. I also created another mineral site up in the north wood lot. There is a bunch of sign up there also and several good trials leading into the back side of the pond. I'm hoping to make it back up for the first weekend of turkey season...hopefully we can get Shana on her first MO Turkey!

Minny Pre-Season 2010 Begins

I made it out to the Annandale Property on Saturday, April 3. I walked the entire property looking for sign and just checking things out. I also set out four 50# trace mineral blocks and set up both of my Cuddyback camera’s. I added a new flash Cuddyback to my arsenal this spring. Next, I staked off the area I will be planting my two food plots this coming spring. I am planning a mix of clover and brassica this year. I finished the day by loosening all of the straps on my portables. Below are a couple photos of my mineral block locations. You can see the deer have been keeping them clean.


Below is a photo of my food plot location . I made it a little bigger this year. The grass on the right side will be tilled under in the coming weeks.

Overall the property looked great. The location I had my Rock mineral block last year is getting completely torn up. The spot I had the rock sitting now has a 6 inch deep hole from the deer working over the area. I found plenty of deer sign. I also have a spot picked out for a new stand location on the Northeast side of the property. I plan to monitor the area throughout the spring and summer with one of the Cuddybacks and see if it will be worth hunting. The new Cuddyback is keeping an eye on it right now.

Jake and I returned to the Annandale property on Tuesday, 4/6/10. The goal for the day was to recover my harness (which I left on Saturday) setup two Trophy Rock mineral locations and mark the trail to my new ground blind location. Mission complete!

I also stopped by and talked to the farmer about prepping my food plot areas. Farmer Jack said he would have the plot locations tilled and ready to plant for me by May 1. Nothing beats just showing up with fertilizer and seed and putting them right in the ground!

Below are pictures of my Trophy Rock locations. The first picture is my Cuddyback setup from last year. The Cuddyback is already monitoring the same area in hopes of spotting una-buck again.

Here is a photo of my new ground blind setup. The area is drop dead sexy. The blind its self is made from a fallen tree. The root area is standing up and makes a perfect wall to my right (west)when sitting. The tree fell on top of some willows, which have grown around the tree ends and make perfect cover. The creek runs directly in front of the blind with a long strip of CRP in front of the that. A large cornfield sits on the back side of the CRP. The CRP field and directly behind the blind location are tore up with deer trails. This will be a deadly area for management tags in the fall!

Jake and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking the woods and checking things out. We walked by the money stand just before leaving and I came across a huge rub. Below are a couple pictures of the rub. I am hoping this guy made it through the winter and comes back to the area this summer!

I will be back out around May 1 to pull my first camera cards of the year and plant my food plots.

MO Snagging 2010 Opening Weekend

The MO spoonbill season opened on March 15th, so we headed down for our annual trip to LOZ on Thursday morning. The forecast was calling for upper sixties on Thursday and Friday, with snow and freezing temps on Saturday, so we wanted to get in as much good weather snagging in as possible.

The action Thursday afternoon and evening was slow. Brian managed to put three spoonies in the boat and loose 6 of our diver rigs in the mean time. The water temp was around 42-43 degrees so the fish hadn't really started to stack up yet.

On Friday morning Brian, Nick, and I  ran up to the 55 mile marker, but there was less action up the river than down by us so after a couple hours we headed back down river. I finally got on the board with a small spoony around the 49MM. The action picked up for the remainder of the afternoon and we ended up putting 18 total fish into the boat on Friday. I think the addition of Nate "FreakNasty" to team Big Fish Hunter put us over the top....

Andy snagged a 107lbs spoony Friday evening....it was an absolute giant of a fish and a true "fish of a lifetime".

We ended up fishing until about 2:15am Saturday morning, before the wind really started picking up. We hit the dock around 2:30am and within five minutes the rain stared, so our timing was perfect. The weatherman didn't disappoint with his forecast. We woke up Saturday morning to stiff NW winds, mid-30s temps, and a mix of rain, sleet, and snow. Derrick, Brian, and I decied to brave the conditions for a couple hours. Being on the lake in a snow storm as actaully pretty awesome. No to mention I was rewarded with my biggest spoony of the weekend a 60+ lbser and a true double snag at the same time. It wasn't until we started to run back up river in the driving sleet that we really started to regret our desicion....but we made it no worse for the wear!

All in all it was another great opening weekend of snagging. We didn't put as many fish in the boat as last year, but we still managed 22 fish for the weekend. Brian and I tied for the most fish with 7 a piece...the double was huge!!