I have been applying for a New Mexico elk hunt via Cabellas TAGS for the last couple of years. This year I was drawn! The unit I will be hunting is unit 16C in the Gila National Forest in the SW part of the state.

I’ve already hired an outfitter through Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures, Inc. I’ll be hunting with Wade Johnson Outfitters. I have every intention of fully documenting and writing about this trip on the blog.

If anyone has any experience in unit 16C,  hunting the Gila National Forest, or with Wade Johnson Outfitters, I’d love to hear from you!

Our first couple of dives were a bust. We weren’t seeing much fish and we didn’t have very high hopes for the day. However, this all changed at about 10:00 am. We started seeing fish and lots of them!

We found schools of shad off the rocky points between 25 and 30 feet deep. These schools were being chased by huge schools of white bass and followed by 2 and 3 fish groups of walleye. By 3:00pm we had limited out on Walleye and shot repeatedly at giant (16″+) white bass.

During this time we also took several small flatheads and blue cats. Jeff saw one large (30lb range) flathead which he poked with his speargun because he thought it was a log. I found a 40lb+ blue cat deep in a cave. He was so far back that I could never figure out a way to get to him. I’m planning on giving him another try on my next trip down.

I say it all the time, but trully “there is nothing quite as fun as spearfishing!”

This is an interesting photo of a flathead that is trying to eat a large walleye.

Thanks to Bull Shoals Boat Dock for taking the above picture and then emailing it to me. If you are ever in, you might see several pictures of our group from various spearfishing endeavors. You can rent your boat, buy your equipment, and get sound advice all in one place! BTW, if you are planning on spearfishing for a day here, ask Josh and TJ for some advice. Those two guys are AWESOME fishermen!

In addition to your normal scuba gear, you  will need a speargun, a fish stringer that can be used easily underwater, a good dive knife, and preferably a good pair of gloves. I also like to have a good dive light for looking in holes and stumps and under ledges.

“Last year I went on a wilderness pack hunt in the Tetons of North-Western Wyoming. It was super dry and not many elk were seen. Though the hunting was tough, we did end up with 4 out of 7 hunters in camp filling their tags. One of which was mine, a 6×6 and my first elk. My huntinh partner had previously been on 2 other pack-in hunts and was successful on both. Both of his bulls were well into the 330 - 360 range. Needless to say we are hooked on the horseback/pack-in hunts.”

Sometimes the tough hunts are the most memorable. After a great experience like that, I’d be hooked on horseback/pack-in hunts too!

“Last year we were hunting with Ladd & Cassi Dick, owners of Teton Country Outfitters. They ran a pretty good camp and are located in an excellent location, just 1/2 mile off of the southern boundary line of Yellowstone National Park. The elk were hard to locate that year because of what I believe to be the lack of water and green grasses for them. I think we got lucky and had a small heard in the area and got the most out of it. But as you know, a little luck in hunting can go a long way.”

Rick, I would agree that a little luck can go a long way. I’d also say that knocking down a nice bull like that takes a lot more than luck! Congrats to you and your outfitter on your successful hunt!

Keep us posted on this years hunting and Thanks Again for sharing!

To be honest, most of our time was spent simply relaxing. Relaxing for us inlcudes: swimming, wakeboarding, hillbilly surfing, scuba diving, and spearfishing.

Lake Ouachita is touted as the second cleanest (clearest) lake in the USA and the largest lake in Arkansas. I must admit that it is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. It has jagged rocky coastlines, bluff walls, and dozens of islands. Development is not allowed on the lake, so there are no houses or buildings.

There were dozens of houseboats out on the lake, but the lake is so big that we still never felt crowded. In fact, the lake was much quieter and had a lot less traffic than we had anticipated. We quickly realized that the ‘cool’ thing to do is to take all of your camping gear out to one of the islands and set up camp. Most of the islands had families camped out for the weekend of the 4th. I immediately decided that I would return with my family to camp out on one of the islands.

We had a great time spearfishing. The water was not as clear as we expected. In fact, visibility is usually better on Bull Shoals than it was here at Ouachita. Apparently the lake hasn’t recovered from the deluge of rain it received this summer.  The water was warmer than what we are used to, too. In fact, we had no problem diving without wetsuits - even when diving under the thermacline. Even without the clarity we had hoped for, we still found some big cats as you can see from the pictures. This must be the year of the big cats!

This was my friend Thad’s first time spearfishing. Us hardcore spearfishing veterans were anxious to find out what he thought of it………   He loved it, of course! The first fish he got was a big, big cat - close to 20lbs! He was instantly hooked and decided to try to get his wife Michelle to give it a go.

I was real curious to see how a ‘girl’ would feel about spearfishing. I’ve found that most females that I’m around love to dive in the carribean or some exotic locale, but aren’t too eager to dive a local lake. Michelle suprised me. I located a cat in a stump during an early morning dive and went back and told the guys and Michelle where it was. Michelle suited up and took off for it. Unfortunately, she missed that cat (it is alot easier to miss than you might think) but spent the next hour intently looking for others. During this same dive her husband Thad, not to be outdone, missed a big 20 lb+ cat that was lounging under a rock ledge. He, of course, tried to let on like he missed to make Michelle feel better, but none of us were buying that.

When Michelle came up from her first spearfishing dive she promptly told Thad that he would be buying her a speargun! So, on this one trip we added two new spearfishermen (and spearfisherwomen) to the ranks.

For anyone keeping score, Jeff, again, took the biggest catfish - followed closely by Thad. I did, however, have one of the more interesting stories:

I found a catfish back in a hole at the same time I ran out of air. I did not have a light with me and I couldn’t see 1) how big the catfish was or 2) exactly where he was. I could just see fins moving in the black water. I shot into the hole where I thought he was. I missed. My tip lodged firmly into something and I could not pull it out. I was out of air. So, I quickly unscrewed the tip (which cost $26.99) from my spear and pulled the spear from the hole. I then reached in, grabbed the cat as firmly as I could and headed for the surface and a breath of air. The cat went crazy and I was barely able to hold onto him. I gripped that fish harder than even I would have thought possible. I’ve never taken such a thrashing before. By the time I got to the surface, my air tank was broken free of my BC and was trailing behind me. My fish stringer was broken off my BC and my speargun had floated off. However, I did get the fish, got a breath of fresh air, and was able to recover all my gear. This was just a 12 lb fish! I’ve seen videos of guys grabbing 60lb cats and wrestling them to the surface. I now fully realize that those guys are really, really tough (and completely insane)!

Travis limited out both days. His second day limit, however, was more than impressive. In addition to these pictures, I was fortunate to be able to film Travis spearing one of these monsters. I’ll try to post it sometime soon.

Picture 1) Travis with his day’s limit (these are HUGE fish people) 

2) Travis and his first monster

3) Travis being greedy and stretching his fish out?

4) Mike, Jeff, Zach, Travis, and Fish

5) Zach, Jeff, Me and Travis

6) Travis while still a spearfishing virgin

1) Me and my largest catfish

2) Jeff and his largest catfish which was biggest of day at close to 40 lbs

3) Mike and his two biggest catfish of the day

4) Zach, Jeff, Me, and Mike and

5) the liar board at Bull Shoals Boat Dock (if you look close enough you will see a picture of all of us on it).

The observant among you will notice that I did not include any pictures of Travis in this post. If you remember, this was Travis’ first spearfishing trip. The reason I chose to leave him out today will become obvious in tomorrow’s post.

But, much to our wive’s dismay, Jeff and I flew back early Sunday morning in order to spearfish the Arkansas open. We made a great decision. It was probably the best day of spearfishing we’ve ever had. Bull Shoals Lake is flooded and about 30 feet higher than normal. We didn’t know what to expect.

When Jeff and I arrived at the Bull Shoals Boat Dock in the town of Bull Shoals, Arkansas it was already late in the day on Sunday. We were simply happy to arrive at all, since we had begun that same day in Austin Texas.  Spearfishing season was already well underway. We were excited to arrive at the dock and hear stories of some of the locals already taking giant cats. There were stories about people with 200 pounds of catfish on their boat from that morning, etc and we got caught up in the excitement. The crazy thing was that everyone was claiming that the catfish were in 12 feet and less of water!

So, with just a couple hours of daylight remaining, Jeff and I headed out. We each burned a tank of air and didn’t have tremendous success. I saw a big (10+ lb) yellow cat but couldn’t get a shot off at it. Jeff saw a flathead (which is not in season yet) and I speared a nice walleye, but that was the extent of it.

When we got back to the dock, one of the local guides (TJ - a really cool guy), was just coming in with a couple of his friends. They had some monster cats including a couple in the mid 40’s and several that were over 25 lbs. Man was I excited about getting out there today.

Our friends, Zach, Travis, and Mike arrived late Sunday evening and we all sat up making plans for today. This was Travis’s first time spearfishing and we were all looking forward to seeing what he thought about it.

Today turned out to be one of those dream days. It was almost surreal. I saw some huge catfish and definitely saw some of the best fish (including walleye and a whole school of stripers) that I’ve ever encountered spearfishing. I blew it several times with misses and dumb mistakes (like forgetting to load the bands on my new speargun) but still managed to land my biggest catfish ever. Jeff took the biggest fish of the day and Mike was close behind with two GIANT cats. Travis managed to limit out on his first day ever of spearfishing. Zach took a couple nice cats and the only walleye of the day.

I can’t imagine topping this day of spearfishing, but can guarantee that we will try to.

When I get back and have high speed internet available, I’ll load a bunch more pictures in my photo gallery. For now, hopefully this picture will give you an idea how great an day we had (and why you should consider taking up spearfishing):

Several of us took a day recently to stalk some pigs with our bows. There were10 guys and we took 23 pigs! All with bows! I was fortunate enough to take 3 pigs, so I’ll have plenty of pork to eat for the next few months (or at least next few weeks).

If you’ve never been pig hunting, I highly recommend it. My friends and I all stalk hunt them. They have an incredible sense of smell so if you work together you can use that to your advantage. They also have great hearing so you have to be quiet - unless you are intentionally trying to drive them towards your much quieter friends. Their eyesight isn’t so great. If you are still - I’ve had them run by me within 5 feet.

I’ve been able to sneak up on them while they are bedded down. They like to burrow down into the brush and leaves - so you’ve got to be alert. If you relish the feeling of having a rabbit, a pheasant, or quail bust up as you almost step on them - just imagine what its like to almost step on a 100+ pound wild boar!

There is nothing better than spending a day in the field hunting a crafty animal with 9 of your friends!

Missouri’s Spring Turkey Season just recently ended. I spent as much time as I could out chasing those gobblers. But, they continue to mainly just laugh at me. Here are the highlights of this year’s season:

One beautiful spring morning:

We (Zach and myself) arrived at my well placed blind about 20 minutes before sunrise. Turkeys were roosted within 100 yards of our blind. They flew down a a little after daylight and we watched all morning as several big Gobblers strutted their stuff between 50 and 150 yards of our blind. They ignored our decoys and didn’t get too shook up over our calls because they were surrounded by hens. The hens, by the way, had no qualms about walking circles around our blind .

The next beautiful spring morning:

Again, Zach and I, arrived at my blind well before daylight. This time, though, we were more prepared. We had moved our blind closer to where we knew those Toms loved to strut. PLUS my friends Jeff and Thad had set up their own blind just 50 yards from us. If the turkeys were close they wouldn’t have a chance with 2 guns and 2 bows all within 50 yards…..

Well, again, I (we) were wrong. It sounded better than any symphony when those turkeys first started gobbling from their roosts. We could hear six different gobblers - all within 200 yards of our blinds. When they flew down our hearts started pumping. Their were old toms, young jakes, and hens EVERYWHERE! A nice young Jake walked by our blind at less than 20 yards. I tried to convince Zach to shoot it, but he refused. He was locked on a couple big (as in 12″ beards) gobblers about 75 yards off that he was certain would come in.

After 45 minutes of watching these birds, Zach convinced me to shoot a gobbler that had walked in close. “He’s just 33 yards away” Zach told me. “Are you sure?” I asked. “Yep, 33 yards - hurry”. I took the shot and the huge gobbler flew off like nothing had happened. I then ranged the distance myself to find it was actually 51 yards. At least I didn’t hurt him any!

Apparently, right as I was preparing to take my shot, Jeff and Thad were locked on big gobblers of their own. They had both drawn back their bows and were counting backward to take a shot together at seperate birds. “5….4….3…..2 — BOOM!” My shot caused both of their birds to take to the air. Sorry guys! I wouldn’t have shot if I’d have known.

The birds started coming back after a few minutes, although they were a lot more spooked acting. Zach took a 30+ yard shot at a huge gobbler… and missed. Jeff shot a different big gobbler with his bow at about 20 yards. the arrow hit it in the breast bone and (I kid you not) deflected down into the ground. It removed a few arrows and that was it. That bird flew a 1/4 of a mile away.

Another incredible day without a bird to show for it!

On yet another beautiful spring day:

I watched as my friend Dana called a huge Gobbler across a field and to within 20 yards. He dropped it with his 12 gauge like a pro. We spent the rest of the day watching/stalking/calling birds that weren’t interested in coming to us. Although, I can say that I missed an opportunity when we crested a hill and a huge tom was standing not 20 feet away - all fanned out. I immediately dropped to the ground and backed up. “Why didn’t you shoot it?” Dana asked. “That thought never even entered my mind” I had to confess.

All in all, I must have seen over 100 gobblers this season. To be honest, the fact that I didn’t feel both my tags doesn’t really bother me. I had a great time.

Finally, my turkey:

Jeff and I set up his blind in the woods on the edge of field. The field had a trail that came into directly across from us. We had a great morning watching birds walk (and sometimes run) down that trail and into the field. They’d strut, gobble, eat, run, and just flat out enjoy themselves. We, too, were enjoying ourselves. While we didn’t get a good shot a big tom, we both were able to take Jakes from about 25 yards. Jeff shot his just a few minutes after I got mine. Another awesome turkey season!