23April2008
Posted by Darrell under: Blogging About The Outdoors.
I keep getting emails from people asking “where are you” and “have you given up blogging”, so it is time to set the matter straight. I’m still around and doing fine. I certainly haven’t given up blogging about the great outdoors. I’ve just slowed down a little for now.
I’ve been busy - just like every other outdoor blogger (or person for that matter) I know. It is amazing that once you slow down writing a little, it becomes easier and easier to make excuses for why you aren’t writing. I’ve had plenty of excuses lately.
My latest excuse? Well, I had an eye surgery and I’m recovering VERY slowly. I’ve had several weeks where I can’t focus on a computer screen for more than a few minutes. I’ve had a terrible time trying to work. Reading is difficult. Typing is near impossible. To see what I mean, try typing with your face directly over the keyboard. I can’t see the screen from further than about 6 inches!!
Eventually, my eyes are supposed to be better. So much better that I will supposedly be able to see better than I ever have! For now, this isn’t the case. Apparently, my eyes are taking a “little longer than normal” to recover. But, I should be seeing well in a couple more weeks and my wife will no longer have to double as my driver.
In the meantime, it’s now Turkey season in Missouri. I’ll be spending some time in the woods and hopefully will be writing about ole Tom in the coming days.
19February2008
Posted by Darrell under: Rantings Of An Outdoorsman.
I just got back from the mountains of British Columbia. I spent the week skiing. Well, not exactly skiing. I hate to even admit it, but I spent the week snowboarding. I’ve spent the last 18 years skiing and swore for many years that you’d never ever catch me on a snowboard. To be honest, I thought that snowboarders were for the most part a bunch of trouble making punks.
Now, here I am, officially a snowboarder. I spent most of the week on a snowboard and, again, as much as I hate to admit it, I had a great time. I almost feel bad about the way I’ve hated snowboarders for the past 10 or more years.
I ended up on a snowboard simply because I went on this trip with some friends that snowboard. I was going to be the odd man out on skis. I figured that if I went ahead and skiied that I’d spend most of my time waiting on all my snowboarding friends to actually get up and do anything (I always thought that snowboarders enjoyed laying on the slopes more than actually going down them). So, due to my limited patience, I decided that I’d be happier laying around with them rather than waiting on them to get up off their lazy butts.
Anyway, I found myself on a snowboard and I now understand why, at any give time, you can find snowboarders laying all over the slopes. I feel like my 36 year old body has spent a week in the washmachine on the spin cycle! But that isn’t the point of this post (and I do have a point).
This post is about the perceptions and attitudes we have towards others and their endeavors to enjoy the outdoors. Many of us outdoorsmen tend to have an imperial view of the outdoors. We tend to think that whatever way we enjoy spending time in the outdoors is superior to the ways that others choose. For instance, I always thought that skiing was superior to, and more important than snowboarding. In fact, I was dissapointed when my favorite ski resorts first began admitting snowboarders!
During my recent trip to BC I went on a snowmobile tour and had a fantastic time. However, there are lots of outdoors people that HATE snowmobiles and the people that ride them. While taking a break during our snowmobile trip one of my friends told me a story. He had went to Colorado one summer with his family to ride ATVs in the mountains. He told me how you’d have to be careful and alert because the hikers would hurl rocks at you as you rode by. I had visions of cross country skiiers rolling giant snowballs towards our snowmobiles.
Anyway, my point is that as outdoorspeople we need to simply get along. I’ve met archery hunters that HATE crossbow hunters, traditional archery hunters that dislike anyone that hunts with a compound bow, bird hunters that dislike deer hunters, fly fishermen that speak out openly against anyone using a spincaster, trotliners that HATE bass fishermen and the list goes on and on.
My suggestion to you is to just go out and enjoy the outdoors in whatever way makes sense to you. I may not join you in whatever endeavor you choose. I may not understand or appreciate the way that you choose to enjoy the outdoors. However, I promise that as long as your method for enjoying the outdoors is legal and ethical, I will stay out of your way.
I’m going to work hard to keep from jumping to conclusions about outdoor sports and activities (that I might not participate in) and I’m going to stop judging the people that do participate.
8February2008
Posted by Darrell under: Rantings Of An Outdoorsman.
It is amazing how one day everything can be going along just fine and then WHAM everything changes in the blink of an eye. One day I’m writing on this blog and planning a hunting excursion and then the next day writing (and even hunting for that matter) are the furthest things from my mind.
It is a good thing that I’m not trying to make my living from writing because I’d have starved over the past few months. Writing has been the furthest thing from my mind. I’ve had no motivation or desire to write. It has been really weird. I wouldn’t say that I’ve been depressed, but it must be something somewhat similar.
Interestingly, this has changed. I find myself wanting to write again. How do I know? Well, I started just getting those ‘writing’ thoughts again. If you are a writer you know what I mean. Something happens and you instantly think “I need to write about this” and the entire story (or post) composes itself in your mind. Well this has been happening to me, again and I’m looking forward to posting again!
My desire to write again began during the last week of January. I went to Florida for a wedding. While most everyone else was lying around on the beach trying to soak up as much sun as possible and strolling through town shopping, I went fishing. Since I haven’t been in the woods or on the water since my Iowa deer hunt, this time fishing completely relaxed and refreshed my mind. My desire to write returned while holding a fishing pole!
I’m leaving tomorrow for one of my favorite places on earth - the mountains of BC. After a week of skiing, hiking, and breathing that fresh mountain air, I’m confident that I’ll return to writing full force!
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My mom went in for an Angioplasty soon after my return from Iowa. It was supposed to be a fairly simple outpatient procedure. They knew she had a blockage and they were going to go in with a camera to take a look at it. She was supposed to be in and out in a couple hours and back home that night. The doctor performing the procedure said that if he saw something obvious that he could easily fix while he was inside he’d take care of it with a stint or a balloon.
Six hours into the two hour procedure a nurse came out and told us that the Doctor was putting in stints and that there had been some complications. She’d let us know as soon as there was more to tell. Twelve hours after the procedure began, the Doctor came out and told us that my mother was still alive but things hadn’t went as planned.
Over the next few weeks my mom’s life hung in the balance. I’m not sure how many times they “almost lost her”. No one knew whether she’d make it or not. She spent days on morophine, laudlam, and every other pain medicine that they could pump into her. None of this would even touch the pain and she spent hours begging for help. At one point her left arm swelled up and burst. It reminded me of a hotdog that is overcooked. Of course, I’m the tough son, so it was I that she begged to help put her out of her misery.
This was taking place over the Holidays when the hospital was understaffed. It took a couple weeks for anyone to realize what was causing the pain and why she was partially paralyzed and had no pulse on the left side of her body. I still don’t have the full story, but it appears that the original doctor might have pushed a stint through one of her arteries, tried to pull it back out and ended up destroying the nerves that control her left arm.
The surgeons that finally did the bypass surgery to repair the arteries destroyed in the first surgery appeared to have done a great job. They put in, not inches but feet of artificial arteries to repair the ones destroyed and filled in during the first surgery. My mother amazingly survived.
Unfortunately, her survival comes with a price. Her left hand is dead. She has been told that she will never get it back. She cannot move it or feel with it at all - however she can feel intense pain in it. Her left arm can be moved slightly at the shoulder. She has to manually move both her arm and hand throughout the day to keep it from shrivelling up. She is in intense pain and takes a crazy amount of medicine each day. She has been assured that the pain will be with her until she dies. She is taking occupational therapy and pain management therapy. Her attitude is probably better than mine would be if I was in her shoes.
The thing that bothers her the most is heart wrenching. My little sister had a baby just weeks before this drama all began. My mother can’t hold her granddaughter. It tears her up. She wants to be able to hold that baby.
This is the WHAM that changed my parents life and gave me writers block (as well as consuming my time).
I’m certain, though, that dad and I will be walking the woods together come turkey season this spring. Mom is already talking about getting out on the lake! And I’m thinking about walking in the woods and, amazingly, writing!
4February2008
Posted by Darrell under: Rantings Of An Outdoorsman.
I’ll be back soon. My mother is doing better. She survived and for a while there was some doubt as to whether she would or not. I’ll write a brief story in the next couple of days describing what happened. Hopefully it might help someone else that might face a similar situation.
In the meantime, I wanted to thank everyone for the words of encouragement and support.
Back soon,
Darrell
12January2008
Posted by Darrell under: Rantings Of An Outdoorsman.
I have come to learn that one of my least favorite places in the entire world is the hospital. As some of you have noticed, I haven’t been posting on a regular basis lately. I’ve been completely out of the loop. I haven’t been following my fellow outdoor bloggers sites. I haven’t been keeping up at work. I haven’t been posting on my blog. I haven’t been hunting or fishing since early December when I went to Iowa.
Instead, I’ve been sitting at the hospital with my family. My mother has been in and out of the the hospital (but mostly in) for the past 5 weeks. It has been a rollercoaster as one moment we think she is getting better and the next we think we might lose her. I know that most everyone has dealt with these same emotions with their own friends and family members.
But, to be honest, I am completely mentally exhausted. I don’t think anything has ever made me more tired then sitting in the hospital and then when I’m not at the hospital running around like my tail is on fire trying to catch up on all the things that I’m supposed to have gotten done.
Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that I haven’t quit the blogosphere. I just don’t physically have the time or mentally have the fortitude to write anything of any substance at the moment. I will, however, be back soon. I’m confident that my mother will pull through just fine, I’ll get caught up in my professional and personal life, and I’ll be once again inspired to enjoy and write about the outdoors which we all love. In the meantime I’ll continue at the hospital supporting my mother and the rest of my family.
Talk to you soon….
3January2008
Posted by Darrell under: Hunting Stories.
I’d never been pheasant hunting before my recent trip to Iowa. It was my first time. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect or how much I’d like it. To be really honest, I’ve never done any hunting I didn’t like, but I figured there always could be a first. Dana, my hunting partner, warned me that we would be walking through heavy cover all day long and that it would be some hard, intense hunting.
Our first day of pheasant hunting started miserably. You can’t shoot pheasants until 8am and must stop hunting by 4:30pm per Iowa law. By the time we got started hunting, the wind was blowing about 20 mph, it was about 20 degrees, and snowing so hard that you could barely see. By 11 am we were trudging through close to 4 inches of snow. By lunchtime we all looked like the abdominal snowman.
Dana has a young English Pointer named Maggie. He had her trained by the same lady that trained my lab. Maggie is only 2 years old and she is good, and I mean really, really good. She worked hard and would find birds and hold point. She would not break point no matter how long it took us to bust our way through the snow and weeds to get to her. She is one awesome dog.
Dana has a special collar for her. It beeps ever 10 seconds so that you can keep track of where she is. In the tall grass and weedy ditches we were hunting you could not see her. When she goes on point it starts beeping close together and you start quickly working your way to her. So, it sounds something like this beep, 10 second pause, beep, 10 second pause, beep, etc. Then she goes on point and it sounds like beep, beep, beep, beep and you know you need to get to her fast.
Dana told me that taking a late season rooster is like shooting an 8 point buck. It isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work, perseverance, some skill, and some luck. We must have had a little of all. We got lucky 9 times by taking 5 pheasants and 4 quail. We were thrilled.
During the course of the day we saw over 60 pheasants. Maggie probably went on point at least 40 times. A lot of those times were on hens which you can’t shoot. How do you know the difference between a male and female pheasant? The males cackle when they get up, have longer feathers, and beautiful coloring. The females are brown. The males, just like in many other species, are much more beautiful than the females. This is one other thing that helps differentiate animals (pheasants) from us humans, because I haven’t seen too many beautiful male hunters.
Even though the conditions were extreme I had an absolute blast hunting birds. The pain from walking was easily displaced by the sheer joy of the hunt. I think pheasant hunting is one of the most enjoyable hunts I have ever been on. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend it. If you are an experienced pheasant hunter, I recommend turning off your computer, getting off your butt and getting out after some late season birds before season closes!
20December2007
Posted by Darrell under: Rantings Of An Outdoorsman.
Matt, over at Bright Idea Outdoors Weblog, is getting ready to participate in a seminar about getting kids interested in hunting. I don’t know all the details, but apparently Kevin at Huntinglife.com put the seminar together and Matt is expecting to talk to 100+ adults over the weekend (which is happening sometime in January).
Matt has been seeking some ideas and thoughts from sportsmen with experience hunting with kids. He is looking for any general thoughts about hunting with kids:
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How to get kids interested in hunting
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What age to start with them
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What game animals to start with
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What weapons to start with
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The impact on hunting to your family life
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Any other tips or ideas
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Pictures of your children hunting (and permission to use in a slideshow)
We all know that the children hold the future of hunting (and the outdoors) in their hands. Anything that we can do to positively influence children and help them cultivate a love for the outdoors will help ensure healthy game populations for the coming generations. I applaud Kevin and Matt for giving their time to such a worthy endeavor.
I’d venture to guess that every single one of us hunters has experiences with children. If you don’t - well then shame on you. You should! So, why not help Matt out and send him some ideas or pictures that he can use in his seminar presentation.
19December2007
Posted by Darrell under: Blog Posts of Note.
I haven’t done an Accolades post in a long time. Not because there haven’t been great post to point out, but because I’ve been so busy hunting and then working to make up for the time I lost while hunting. I plan to get back to these again in the near future since hunting season is quickly winding down. In the meantime, I came across a post that I wanted to give a quick plug!
Congrats Kevin for getting a great interview with one of my favorite hunting writers - Jim Zumbo. Jim Zumbo is the type of guy that you could sit around a campfire with. I especially appreciate his comments about hunting with children and the joy that it brings him! Be sure and check out Kevin’s interview of Jim Zumbo at HuntingLife.com.
18December2007
Posted by Darrell under: Hunting Stories.
Chris, Dana and I hunted together again. The day, like all the previous ones consisted of lots of drives. The weather was bitterly cold and it was windy. We saw fewer deer and the ones we saw were really getting smart. They broke in different places and ran different directions then they had been running earlier in the season. This made them harder to block for because you just couldn’t predict where they’d run.
Chris got his deer today. He took a nice 8 point buck. It had a really wide rack, although it wasn’t too tall. The deer weighed around 230 lbs and it took all three of us to throw it into the back of Chris’s truck. Chris was both excited and disappointed. He was excited because he’d just taken a nice deer, and disappointed that it wasn’t the wall hanger of a lifetime.
Speaking of the deer of a lifetime, we all saw him today. We saw several nice big ‘once in a lifetime’ bucks during the season. However, this was the deer of my dreams. It was a huge ten point with incredible mass, the rack was 8-10” wider than the ears on each side and really tall. Even without the 16” drop tine it was sporting it was a deer of a lifetime. Add in the drop tine and you have the deer of many hunter’s dreams.
Maybe someone in Chris’s family will take him during the second season hunt? The farm we saw him on has produced incredible drop tines each of the last several years. If I lived in Iowa (and had permission), I’d have a hard time not hunting that farm every single day of archery season. I can only hope that I’ll be invited to hunt on that farm again at some point in the future. Seeing a deer like that is an amazing experience and I’ll never forget that deer !
Our Iowa deer hunt was a huge success. Dana, Chris, and I all took nice bucks. I’ll be taking meat home. All told we ended up seeing 188 deer of which 54 were bucks. I saw several once in a lifetime deer. Hopefully, I’ll get another chance at one. I’m pretty sure I won’t be turning down any deer hunting invitations to Iowa.
17December2007
Posted by Darrell under: Hunting Stories.
The deer are getting smarter. They aren’t falling for our bag of tricks anymore. They are starting to take different escape routes and if they would have ran North yesterday, they are running South today.
There wasn’t much shooting today. We saw lots of deer, but anything shootable was making sure we didn’t get a shot. I, again, had a decent buck close to me. This one cruised by at about 30 yards at the tale end of a drive through the ‘Ranch Timber’. I, again, passed.
Dana had his own ‘passed’ story for the day. He jumped the big boy, a massive 12 pointer while doing a drive with me through the ‘South Timber’. It stopped about 30 yards from him and all he could see was it’s butt and it’s horns. Dana decided that an animal that huge deserved a sure shot. He decided to only shoot if it showed him its side. It never did and he never shot. He watched the buck of a lifetime trot off. It was definitely the responsible thing to do. I’m not sure I would have had the fortitude to do it. If I had my own tag, I’d have probably pulled the trigger. Of course, if I had wounded that deer and not recovered it, I’d have had a hard time walking back out into the field with my gun.
I had another good day hunting with Dana, Mike, and Chris. I spent part of the day riding around with Mike in his huge 1 ton pickup and learned a lot more about how the farming business works in Iowa. I’ve always had a lot of respect for farmers. After spending the last several days with some, I have even more respect. These guys work hard, play hard, and generally just enjoy life. They spend the lion’s share of their time in the great outdoors. They know where the deer are going to be and where they are going to run because they see them every single day of their lives. Pretty cool.
Hunting Iowa is so much different from any other hunting I’ve ever done. You can literally see for miles and miles. Chris and I were standing up on the ‘West Flat’ and he pointed out 4 different towns in the distance. One was about 30 miles away. The deer run for miles, too. I don’t know how many times I watched deer jump and then run completely through one section and into the next. A section is a mile long. These deer love to run.
In Missouri, a group of hunters can spend weeks hunting the same 500 acres. In Iowa, we can hunt 500 acres in less than an hour. The locals can tell you where you’ll jump the deer and where they’ll run to. The trick is getting there ahead of them and ambushing them for a shot. It is a lot of fun!
Today, we didn’t kill anything. We didn’t wound anything either – which is good! We saw a whopping 53 deer today on a total of 9 drives. Ten of those deer were bucks. Three were big boys or ‘Wall Hangars’ as the locals call them. When a local says a deer is a ‘Wall Hanger’ you’d better believe it’s a big buck. One of the locals described a ‘Wall Hanger’ as a buck that when you lay him in the back of your pickup, you can see his tines sticking up out of the pickup bed.
The total for the 4 days so far is 168 deer and 49 bucks. Maybe tomorrow is the day for someone to take a ‘Wall Hanger’.
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