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I never really cared much for ocean fishing, but over the years taking spring/fall break trips to the beach with the kids, I've started putting together a decent little surf fishing kit. I've had good luck in the past with getting enough pompano, whiting, etc. for a fish fry, but things really came together this week.

Nice work

Youth opener here in TN this weekend. 

My older son (11) got his first longbeard today.



He also refused any help carrying his bird and got it all the way back to the truck.



Couldnt be more proud.

@Burl

Priceless memories. My daughter and I do the same with fishing. Dozens upon dozens of stories and new ones happen every year.

Burl wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:37 am I never really cared much for ocean fishing, but over the years taking spring/fall break trips to the beach with the kids, I've started putting together a decent little surf fishing kit. I've had good luck in the past with getting enough pompano, whiting, etc. for a fish fry, but things really came together this week.

Excellent choice of shorts Burl

Burl, I love me some turkey hunting. Been going out with my boys for the past 17 yrs. I generally still let them do the shooting while I record the hunt. My youngest is a dead eye and gets one every season and fills his tags. My oldest, not so lucky. We got one on his very first hunt and he has not got one since. The land we hunt on doesn't have many birds, but we still enjoy the time.

How big was it Burl? I looks pretty damn big. We just eat the breasts. Good eating.

Otis, he was 21 lbs, 1 inch spurs, 9 and 7/8" beard. Solid 3 year old bird I imagine.
... a pretty good first bird. He said he didn't want to shoot a jake which made me proud.
We fried one breast for dinner it was excellent and we also keep the legs which I use to make chicken/turkey salad, and sometimes I'll do them in the crock pot for a "pulled pork" and it works out good, just takes some time.

So yea, we had a good opener. I hit the public land for the regular season opener and scored too.



A little bigger, 22.5 lbs, 9.5" beard, 3/4" spurs. Standard 2 year old.
Season's off to a great start. One more and Im tagged out.

Great news Burl.

My youngest (about to be 24 in a couple months) went out Saturday morning. Unfortunately I didn't make it (DAMMIT). Per usual he got his bird. It was approx 20 lbs, 9" beard and 1" spurs. Nice bird. The great thing about his hunt, it was talking to 2 toms and had a hen come in. As soon as he dropped the tom, he said 8-10 jakes came out of the timber. He had video of it. We have never seen that many turkeys on this property at one time, let alone the same field. We laughed and thought the jakes came out to celebrate the death of the tom that had probably been kicking their ass for awhile.

My season starts tomorrow. I will not be able to get out until the weekend though. My youngest will go and hoping to get the oldest out as well.

I hope you're able to get after them soon Otis. Love this time of year.
I've been covered up in work and kids sports so time is hard to come by, but hope to bag one more.

Sunday and Monday look to be the days. Saturday morning a chance of rain, mid 30s and windy.

Not a hunter but I could have run this guy's ass over yesterday, he crossed right in front of me:

So the old lady and I are going to renew our wedding vows in Niagra Falls the last weekend in November. No heart shaped vibrating bed alas. But I'm taking the opportunity to go out smallmouth bass fishing one morning from Buffalo with a guide. Expensive but world class smallie fishing.

Heading up to Canada near flin flon first week in June for a walleye and northern excursion. I shut my cell off at the border and don’t turn it back on until we cross back.

Gotta love this. I left Chicago long ago while the Chicago River was still an open sewer, there was a bit of perch fishing along the lake front and spring/fall salmon/trout in close. We used to go to the Fox River in southern Wisconsin for carp fishing because it was too polluted to support much else (big ass atomic torpedo carp, lots of fun to catch), Skokie Lagoons was good only for carp and bullhead. Now, I'm amazed at the turnaround in water quality (the Clean Water Act definitely did its job). Saw this article in the Sun Times, good sign of the improvements:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/giant-s ... 38872.html

southdakbearfan wrote: ↑Thu May 11, 2023 8:48 am Heading up to Canada near flin flon first week in June for a walleye and northern excursion. I shut my cell off at the border and don’t turn it back on until we cross back.

I hate you (just kidding). Should be some great fishing.

Had a nice evening casting session, a mile from my house. The smallest one got the hook to his gills so he had to be kept. 14”, 18”, 18.5” and 19”. A nice limit for an hour of stress relief before dark.

Grizzled wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:28 am Not a hunter but I could have run this guy's ass over yesterday, he crossed right in front of me:

We have about a dozen big turkeys living in the woods right behind our house. They walk through the back yard in the mornings and sometimes at dusk - and have been waking me up around 6:30 AM with loud gobbles. I laugh and yell "shut up!". There are I think 3 Toms (big fatties) and then a bunch of hens. I don't know why they've taken up residence there but they've been there a few months now. They seem to be everywhere these days. We have coyotes and fox so I'm suprised they don't take them out. Maybe they prefer groundhogs or something.

Hey has anyone here ever chartered a boat for some deep see fishing in the keys? Going to Marathon next month and might want to go out for a day or at least a half-day. I'm going to look on line but thought I'd throw it out here too.

IE wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 3:20 pm Hey has anyone here ever chartered a boat for some deep see fishing in the keys? Going to Marathon next month and might want to go out for a day or at least a half-day. I'm going to look on line but thought I'd throw it out here too.

Did it out of Jupiter Beach but that was long ago. Cousin and I rented a boat for fishing in the Keys but not deep sea, closer to shore (had a blast). Probably can look online, read reviews, get prices, etc. I think sailfishing is in the winter but should be some other decent fishing.

IE wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 3:20 pm Hey has anyone here ever chartered a boat for some deep see fishing in the keys? Going to Marathon next month and might want to go out for a day or at least a half-day. I'm going to look on line but thought I'd throw it out here too.

Not on the keys but we did it off South Carolina last year. I used fishing broker . Com. I can say I got exactly what I expected. I didn't go with the high priced ones. The reviews were actually really accurate. The reviews said these guys like to catch spanish mackerel and dont like to fish other varieties, you will catch a bunch of fish, they are smaller boats and family friendly, etc. The scores of the reviews didnt exactly match the statements, but the statements were accurate generally.

I went bear hunting in Montana once with my dad. I was like 16 and I was mostly scared shitless the whole time. I'de only ever hunted waterfowl/birds, deer, etc. Never something that could kill me back (coyotes were probably the most "dangerous" thing I'd ever hunted).

wab wrote: ↑Thu Jun 01, 2023 2:13 pm I went bear hunting in Montana once with my dad. I was like 16 and I was mostly scared shitless the whole time. I'de only ever hunted waterfowl/birds, deer, etc. Never something that could kill me back (coyotes were probably the most "dangerous" thing I'd ever hunted).

It wasn’t going to kill you back, you were all heavily armed.

Trophy hunting is the worst, and I have no love for anyone that participates. Killing for joy seems like the Webster Dictionary definition of evil. Fuck Cutler for this. JMO.

dplank wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:56 am

wab wrote: ↑Thu Jun 01, 2023 2:13 pm I went bear hunting in Montana once with my dad. I was like 16 and I was mostly scared shitless the whole time. I'de only ever hunted waterfowl/birds, deer, etc. Never something that could kill me back (coyotes were probably the most "dangerous" thing I'd ever hunted).

It wasn’t going to kill you back, you were all heavily armed.

Trophy hunting is the worst, and I have no love for anyone that participates. Killing for joy seems like the Webster Dictionary definition of evil. Fuck Cutler for this. JMO.

What do you mean by “trophy hunting” ?
Bear is edible and quite good. Bear hides are used in any number of ways. Populations are generally doing well and growing in most regions.
What’s the objection?

dplank wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:56 am

wab wrote: ↑Thu Jun 01, 2023 2:13 pm I went bear hunting in Montana once with my dad. I was like 16 and I was mostly scared shitless the whole time. I'de only ever hunted waterfowl/birds, deer, etc. Never something that could kill me back (coyotes were probably the most "dangerous" thing I'd ever hunted).

It wasn’t going to kill you back, you were all heavily armed.

Trophy hunting is the worst, and I have no love for anyone that participates. Killing for joy seems like the Webster Dictionary definition of evil. Fuck Cutler for this. JMO.

You can un-clutch your pearls, we didn't even see one.

Burl wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 11:03 am

dplank wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:56 am

It wasn’t going to kill you back, you were all heavily armed.

Trophy hunting is the worst, and I have no love for anyone that participates. Killing for joy seems like the Webster Dictionary definition of evil. Fuck Cutler for this. JMO.

What do you mean by “trophy hunting” ?
Bear is edible and quite good. Bear hides are used in any number of ways. Populations are generally doing well and growing in most regions.
What’s the objection?

If you need the food and/or hide, then so be it. I draw a line between the natural part of hunting (need based) and the enjoyment part. This is just my opinion and it's not meant to offend anyone. But IMO, if you enjoy killing things, then you're evil. You can enjoy nature, the thrill of the hunt, all the other bits of the process - but if you actually enjoy ending another living creatures life, then I have nothing for you as a human. It's just how I feel and have always felt.

We've discussed before so I know how you are about all this and honestly, I have all the respect in the world for you're approach to it. Seriously, I do. But I think you are in a major minority of people who hunt things other than deer or birds - most of them do it as some faux tough guy thing or some sort of bragging rights thing IMO. I'd love to be wrong about that but don't think I am. So if that's someone's thing - killing a black bear so they can take a picture and brag to their friends about it - I simply hope that person rots in hell or feels one day how that creature feels when it's life is taken. It's about need vs pleasure. The extreme example are canned hunts (evil as fuck), and traveling to Africa or something to shoot a Lion or Elephant. That's pure fucking vanity and pure fucking evil - people who do it can straight up burn in hell.

So, I had to spoil myself after a long last season and knowing how the shit show named the bears was going to look the rest of this season I splurged and bought a brand new waterfowl shotgun (Browning Cynergy Wicked Wing). Picked it up this afternoon and will test it out hunting ducks with the kids this weekend. I guess that’s the benefit of a bad team, when they stink I hunt more.

southdakbearfan wrote: ↑Mon Oct 02, 2023 3:17 pm So, I had to spoil myself after a long last season and knowing how the shit show named the bears was going to look the rest of this season I splurged and bought a brand new waterfowl shotgun (Browning Cynergy Wicked Wing). Picked it up this afternoon and will test it out hunting ducks with the kids this weekend. I guess that’s the benefit of a bad team, when they stink I hunt more.

I haven't been bird hunting in a couple of years. It's not as easy to do here in Texas as it was when I lived right on the river in IL and could just walk out the front door in the morning and hunt. I have a Benelli SBE collecting dust, and this post has inspired me to try and get out this year.

Duck hunting is the most fun you can have hunting IMO. Pigs are a close second.

The fall Muskie hunt continues into its third week this weekend.

We’ve seen one each time and last week I had one go at my bait but it took it off the hook.

This weekend my kid and I are getting the fishing waiters out and are going to work the edges of this weed patch and drop off where we get them every year.