RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

I’ll be hunting my normal area’s in SD along with southern Iowa assuming I draw a tag. Just put in this last week, have a couple of PP’s, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. :D


This year I’ll probably hunt more on the weekends (longer sits hopefully) along with some time during the week.

In my ‘home’ area, a 110 or better is the goal… Some of it depends on what I start pulling off of trail camera’s before season. In southern Iowa, my goal would be a 125” or better. As it stands right now I have the second week of Nov. (8 - 16) off. – so that should be 9 solid days of hunting along with some weekend and weekday hunting.

I’ve got a couple things that could affect me time in the field:
- Wife and I are expecting our first with a due date right now of Sep. 28. So that will certainly have some affect on my time in the field.
- Started a new job this last winter and I probably won’t have quit the flexibility that my old job had. With my old job I could easily adjust my schedule for more time in the field and that just won’t be an option this year (trying to save up my vacation time, but it’s still not going to be the same)
- Cash Flow – with the new baby coming, the wife potentially being on maternity leave for much of the hunting season and with gas being as high as it is, I will have to really watch my hunting ‘budget’ this year more than I ever have…

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

Same old story here for me with a few depressing variables, and a couple positives....

[ul][*]WINDMILLS- They are going up like wildfire here in my county, one of my favorite turkey hunting spots is already toast for sure. It may sound selfish of me to bitch about them but we have a serious case of habitat distruction here. But since i dont own the land, there is nothing i can do. Good news for deer hunting is that they will be about a mile or so away from my core deer areas, which is good.[*]Fuel- I do only drive 10 miles to my hunting grounds tops, but a few trips a day, along with commuting to college will really put a damper on things, not too bad but it will still suck.[/ul]
How about some good things...
[ul][*]WT- The good old Want To, dispit everything that has happened i still have an incredible about of confidence going into this deer season. Fresh off my best one ever, i think my skills are ever increasing and will be able to be the most efficent i have ever been with my scouting.[*]Time- I hate to look at this as a good thing, but since my dad had a stroke and couldnt work last year, it means that this year i will have full financial aid and should be able to not have to work full time as well as go to college.I should be able to settle on a part time job which will free up some time to "study" when im not at college.[/ul]
Its gonna be a good year men. I'll be posting trail cam pics as soon as my lazy ass gets them out there. Stay tuned!

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

It was a busy weekend for me. Got the rest of the food plots ready to plant, built 2 bridges, brush hogged the last of the old pasture, hung 2 new stands and put out the trail camera's. I seen about 25 deer and a couple of them were small bucks. We saw some bear tracks that were pretty big, but no bear.

I did find some time go out mudding with the atv's that was fun.Did a little drinking and bs'n around the camp fire.

Al I can't wait to see some of your pics.

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

Sorry guys its been so long. I didn't even notice that their was anything new in our team thread til today.. my bad.

Looks as though some of you are really anxious for the season to begin. Fran.. Jason.. Al.. and of course our landowner (which is awesome) Dan the man I'm looking at you all.

I'll answer in order..

1.) I'll be hunting new areas for the 5th year straight now. I'll hunt a few older areas (by old I mean 2nd season there).. but looking at a mostly new beginning for me again.
2.) No trail cams for me. I just never really got into them I guess.
3.) Not alot of free time until November.. when Justin and I will be together filming and hunting for like 10 days straight.
4.) standards are the same for me. 3.5 yrs or better. Unless on Wisc. public where a solid 2.5 will do. (I only hunt Wisc. public for like 3 weeks in September than I'm out.
5.) To superstitious to answer.
6.) The 10 day trip with JZ will take place over 3 counties all at least a 5 hr. drive from home.
7.) Ya.. the economy blows..[:'(]

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

Kelly's car got rear-ended the other day, so it's in the shop. The other guy's insurergave her alittle Nissan hatchbackas a rental. I'm taking it on a little spotting/scouting mission tonight. It gets over 30 mpg, and since I'm playing on house money, I might take it off of some sweet jumps - dukes of hazzard style. haha j/k

There are a couple places that I like to spot, where I normally wouldn't take my car - so I'm throwing in the come-along and going nuts.[&:]

I figure a little bit of mud in the undercarriage won't hurt anything. :eek: It's got awhole chitloadof tread on the tires, which is a luxury that I'm not used to.

My car is usually running on the steel belts. LOL

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

My neighbor sent the first pics off the trail came today. Only small bucks and a bear.

Fran I hope you didn't get stuck with that rental.

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

Dan, nice picture buddy. How many cameras are you guys running right now?

I didn't even get out last night - we made last minute plans to go camping all weekend, so I ran around and tied up some loose ends. I'm taking the rental, b/c the camp road might be a little washed out. LOL

I'll snap a few pics of the camp and post them when I get back.

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

We only have 2 out now. at the end of the month we'll get out the rest of them. Have fun camping. Drive that car like a rental.

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

Nice Fran, i had a rental focus for a while, drove the piss outta that thing!

On another note,Im helping my dad build a garage whichhas eatten up a lot of my spare time, had an incident with a faulty ladder jack yesterday so im having a tough time walking right now, but i should be back up and running in a few days. Lol

Keep after em! Ive been out cruising lately looking for bucks, once i get the motorcycle on the road it will be a ton cheaper for me to power scoutfor big bucks. I can hunt like my whole county so i tend to cover a lot of ground looking for deer, the bike will def. help.

Keep it clean fellas.

RE: 13-Official Team 13 Thread
 

Just got home from camp - nothing on tv to watch. Bored.

I snapped a couple pics for you guys to check out.

Here's Camp Gunsmoke - it's about 50 years old, been remodeled a few times. Butts right up against about 10,000 acres of National Forest, so it's ina pretty sweet location, right at the end of a long, private road. Definitely not as sweet as Dan's place, but pretty nice for a cheapo weekend getaway.



Not a bad place - has gravity-fed water, electricity and an outhouse. Propane heat. No a/c, but it sits down in a deep hollow, and only gets about 3 hours of sun due to the hemlock cover.



Here's a better pic - note the rental car. Sweet. I forgot to take a pic of the interior - it's pretty basic - 3 br, each with 2 bunks. Walls paneled with unpaintedT-111. Main room with a couple old mounts, sleeper sofa, card table and 2 more double beds.



Sam Adams and a fire. Can't beat that with a stick. Great place to eliminate a few cold brews.



We boated on the Allegheny Reservoir all day Saturday. I got a nuclear sunburn, but I caught about a half-dozen smallies. It clouded up for a couple hours, but was a pretty nice day. I snapped a photo during a cloudy spell, but my cameraphone sucks.