Outdoorsmen Adventures.com

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

It was almost daylight and the tukeys were still in the trees. Every few seconds one would gobble and this would set off the others.

Occasionally, I’d do a soft yelp and get the booming answers from the big toms.

I was so close I could hear them flying down from the tree limbs and they continued the gobbling and yelping.

But the sounds were fading as the whole bunch walked away.

More often than not, that’s how it is in today’s turkey woods. There are so many turkeys that it is a rare occasion when toms go to roost without hens.

And, come dawn, the toms go where the hens go and if you are not on that track, you will not bag a tom.

That’s why preseason scouting is so important.

We used to scout just to determine where the toms were roosting and then depend upon our calling to bring them in.

Now, however, you have to determine where those turkeys will go when they fly down and you must be set up on that track to even have a chance.

It is a fact that many of today’s turkey hunters no longer get up early to be in the woods at dawn.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

All measurements are taken in 1/16-inch increments and converted to decimal form. For conversion charts, go to the National Wild turkey Federation web page at: www.nwtf.org/for_hunters/how_to_score.html A current NWTF member or another licensed hunter from the state where the bird was harvested must verify all measurements.

Step 1: Weigh your bird in pounds and ounces and convert ounces to decimal form.

Step 2: Measure each spur. Spurs must be measured along the outside center, from the point at which the spur protrudes from the scaled leg skin to the tip of the spur. Add both spur measurements and multiply the combined length of the spurs by 10. This is the number of points you receive for the turkey’s spurs.

Step 3: Measure the beard length (a beard must be measured from the center point of the protrusion of the skin to the tip) and convert it to decimal form.

Next, multiply the beard length figure by 2; this is the number of points you receive for the beard length. If you have an atypical bird (multiple beards), measure each beard, convert them to a decimal number, then add those figures together and multiply by two. This is the number of points you receive for your turkey’s beards.

Step 4: Add together the weight, the points for spurs and points for beard(s): This is the score you receive for your turkey.

Listed below is the information on this years spring turkey season in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

Lake of the Woods features lots of eating-size

walleyes such as this one caught by Jon Thelen

Lindy/Little Joe representative. (Journal photo by Larry Myhre)

BAUDETTE, Minn. — The snow covered ice of massive Lake of the Woods stretched out before us like the surface of the moon.

The nicely manicured ice road was easy to negotiate. We were about five miles out from Zippel Bay to find the ice house where we would headquarter for our early morning fishing start.

Nick Painovich, owner with his wife Deanna of Zippel Bay Resort, guided us to the house which he said was located on a shallower rock rubble bar which had produced walleyes in the early and late hours of the day.

Jon Thelen, Lindy/Little Joe rep from Crystal, Minn., opened the ice house door and immediately took over the hole in the northeast corner of the shack.

I remembered then that Nick had told us last year that it always seemed the hole on the northeast produced the most fish.

Jon remembers details like that and after dropping the transducer of his Hummingbird flasher down the hole, he sent down a minnow-tipped Lindy Rattlin’ Flyer Spoon.

Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb, Nick and I were soon in operation as well.

But, we had lingered too long over breakfast at the resort and had missed the early bite. Nick soon had us on our way to another house in deeper water.

With Jon at the northeast hole, we began to jig and began to catch fish.

It was the little saugers that provided the first action. There is a huge year-class of 10-inch saugers coming on now that by next summer and winter will be in that nice keeper size. But, for now we sent them back.

Then the walleyes showed up. Jon scored first with a 15-incher on a Frostee jigging lure tipped with a minnow head.

It was a good way to break the ice (pardon the pun) and we were soon on the way to putting several eating-sized walleyes (known locally as “bucket fish”) in our bucket.

The hottest lure that day seemed to be the Frostee jig, but we also caught fish on the Flyin’ Rattlin Spoon, the the Genz worm in gold color. Minnow head or live minnow, it didn’t seem to matter.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

This is the painting of the Hooded Merganser
which will become the Iowa Duck Stamp for 2010. (Submitted photo)

Darren Maurer, Sioux City, has won the Iowa Duck Stamp Contest for an unprecedented fourth time.

Maurer’s painting of a Hooded Merganser drake was judged the best from entries from around the nation on Feb. 12 in Des Moines, Iowa. It will be featured on the Iowa duck stamp for the year 2011. The painting will also be the Iowa Ducks Unlimited sponsor print for the same year.

This win earns Maurer the honor of becoming the only artist in the thirty-eight year history of the Iowa art contest to win the Iowa Duck Stamp four different times.

Maurer was previously tied with artists Paul Bridgeford, Dietmar Krumrey, and the legendary Maynard Reece with three Iowa stamps each to their name.… Continue reading

Holly Chow, Winnipeg, a full-time guide for Cats

on the Red at Lockport, Manitoba, nets a catfish for a client. (Submitted photo)

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

LOCKPORT, Manitoba — When Holly Chow steps into her guide boat, she has to catch fish.

After all, anyone with the nickname, “Mama Cat” has to live up to her reputation.

And she does. A lifetime of experience in waters throughout the country sees to that.

But she didn’t really begin to fish for catfish until last spring. That’s when she began guiding full time for Stu McKay’s “Cats on the Red” resort.

“A typical day would be eight guys standing at the dock and they’d see two boats there and they’d see the girl and they’d go, ‘Oh, god, somebody’s got to fish with the girl,’” she said. “Then we’d come in with 24 fish and they’d go, “We were with ‘Mama Cat!’”

The Red River below the Lockport dam is recognized worldwide as a premier big catfish river in the summertime.

“The average size channel cat is about 20 pounds,” Holly said. “I would be ashamed if I took you out and we didn’t get three over 36 inches weighing between 24 and 26 pounds.”… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

MULLEN, Neb. — Gary Howey spotted the coyote first. It was so far away it looked like a black spot moving across the snow.

Andy Glidden stopped the truck and we watched the dog cross the flat and disappear into the hills.

“We have permission to hunt that ranch,” Andy said.

We drove on, found a gate and entered the property.

We drove in about a quarter mile then parked the truck in a depression and began walking.

We were looking for a good place to set up, but that wasn’t happening.

We walked on.

Suddenly two doe mulies popped up on a hillside one hundred yards away.

We froze. If those deer spooked, our chances at the coyote would diminish. After looking us over for several minutes, the does trotted off, unalarmed.

Then we found the spot. The hillside dropped away onto a flatland and we set up the Fox Pro electronic caller and went to work.

“Coyote at 11 o’clock,” Andy said a few moments later. “200 yards.”

He had come in from our left side and managed to almost get downwind before we saw him.… Continue reading

This female snowy owl was photographed at Oak

Hammock Marsh Management Area just west of

Selkirk, Manitoba. (Journal photo by Larry Myhre)

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal.

SELKIRK, Manitoba — The big female snowy owl was perched at the top of an electrical pole as I eased the 300 mm lens out of the truck window.

The regal owl ignored us, seemingly studying the snow covered field to our right.

I pursed my lips and squeaked.

The big head swiveled to look and I pressed the shutter.

We had arrived at Stu McKay’s Cats on the Red Resort at the Lockport Dam on the Red River early that afternoon.

Stu, an avid bird and landscape photographer, suggested Fran and I head out to nearby Oak Hammock Marsh to look for snowy owls.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

When Jack Vitito began carving back in 1980, he didn’t dream this hobby would become a full-time job.

He had started his business, Jack’s Uniforms in 1972 in South Sioux City and sold the successful business to his son Dale in 1997 to pursue his artwork full time.

Since then he has concentrated his activities on painting and carving.

“I currently have carvings in 40 states,” Vitito says.

He has carved a lot more than decoys, as well.

“I’ve done butterflies, hummingbirds and what is currently very popular are songbirds, especially the cardinals, goldfinches and wrens,” he says.

His interest in art actually started back in junior high school when he began sketching.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

SELKIRK, Manitoba — It’s a magical place, this 30-mile stretch of the Red River from the Lockport Dam north to Lake Winnipeg.

From late September through ice-out, the Red hosts untold numbers of huge walleyes, fish which have spent the spring and summer feeding in the inland sea known as Lake Winnipeg.

October draws thousands of anglers hoping to cash in on the action at a place where an 8-pounder is “just another fish” and nobody gets excited until a 12 pounder comes to the net.

Then the river freezes over and everyone goes home.

But, the big fish are still there.

Stu McKay, longtime owner of Cats on the Red Resort just below the dam at Lockport, called me in late December.

“You better get up here,” he said. “Some awfully nice fish are coming through the ice.”

A couple of photos of 30-inchers sealed the deal, but it would be mid January before my schedule would fit. Also the prospect of photographing a snowy owl and northern hawk owls was added incentive.

So, we made the 550 mile trip north for three full days of fishing and photography.

“It’s underutilized in a lot of respects,” Stu remarked as we were preparing our gear for the day. “If this fishery, both the Red and Lake Winnipeg, were in the state of Minnesota, for instance, there would be armies of people out there. Right now it is mostly locals.”… Continue reading

Low camera angle improved this photograph.

Also the deer was cleaned up, no blood, no wound showing.

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

It seems everyone is taking pictures these days.

Digital photography has taken a lot of the mystery out of photography and today’s point and shoot cameras are so simple to operate that they should not be intimidating to any one.

Although practically no one worries much about f stops or shutter speeds nowadays, getting a good photograph still depends upon who is pushing the button.

Since I’ve been running reader photos on these pages, it’s been longer than six years, believe it or not, I get to see a lot of efforts from amateur photographers.

Some of their “look at my fish” or “look at my deer” are pretty good, but others are not what they should be.

So, I’m going to offer some suggestions here for you to get better photos of your fish and game.… Continue reading