Here is just a quick post! I did not get to go on this trip but my cousin and uncle went down to Arkansas for the last trip of the year. Looked to be a really great trip. They only got 10 ducks the first day however, the last two days they had 5 man limits. This was in Carlyle AR and they were hunting in a variety of habitat. The first day they were in flooded beans, which I would have thought to be the best for puddling ducks but that's the day they only got 10. The second day they hunted over a minnow pond and I think that was the day they got their limit of bluebills in under 2 hours. The last day looked like the most interesting to me. They were set up in the corner of some tall trees and the ducks were buzzing over and spinning around while loosing altitude and coming into the spread. The ducks did look really far away and I think that was due to the POV cameras used because most of them were right in or outside the spread.
This will hopefully be the last video of this type for me. I should have my new camera in a few weeks and will be doing more educational pieces. I think that is the direction I would like to go now. I feel like I have sufficient knowledge from really hunting and fishing hard over the past few years and I would like to pass on some that knowledge. Of course there will still be vids and pics of the hunting and fishing experience, but I would like to help others catch more fish! After all, helping people is what I do now and a Psychologist.
Well the video is just a bunch of shooting and a few bad words slipped by my editing so if you are watching with the kids, there are a couple bad words. Not horrible but I like to have that stuff edited out. Well, thanks for reading and watching. Don't forget to subscribe to my youtube channel if you like what you see and please, if you don't like what you see, let me know so I can get better.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Chicagoland Fishing, Travel & Outdoor Expo - Schaumburg 1/30/2016
I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was plenty of parking and amazingly, it was free. That was nice not to have to unload 20 bucks right off the bat just to park. Also, the walk was not far from the parking lot to the event and we were not there that early so this was nice. Upon entering the convention center, there was plenty of room leading up to the ticket booths and I purchased my ticket in about 2 minutes from entering.
We walked the short distance to the show from the ticket booths and immediately noticed the size of the show. As we walked through there were plenty of booths with tackle and gear. From initial looks, reasonable prices as well. We made the decision to walk through the show and make notes of the booths we wanted to revisit to buy the stuff we came for.
My friend was in the market for a reel and we stopped by the Anglers Resource Booth and met Casey who was very friendly and knowledgeable about his products. They had a good deal but just did not have the brand my friend was looking for. If you purchased a reel 100 dollars or more, you would get an 80 rod for free. We talked for a while and moved on. We found another retailer The Anglers Outlet from Oak Forest and they had exactly what my friend was looking for. He was comparing the Abu Garcia Revo SX and STX. He ultimately decided on the Revo SX and the price was 25 dollars lower that that of Bass Pro. The guys at the booth were very nice and definitely helped in the decision.
I noticed while I was waiting in line with my friend to purchase his reel the guys from the Cast Crew just down a bit. I went down there to meet some of the guys. I talked a bit with them and they are cool for sure. I wanted to purchase a hat and shirt from them so I could represent this season. I talked with Jaypee and found out we had some of the same acquaintances and a common friend that we both used to fish with who is no longer with us. RIP Tony! We talked for a while and I did get the hat I wanted with the shirt. I also met Travis Crossman from Stankx Baits. I have been buying soft plastics from him for several years now so it was nice to put a face with the name. Ryan and Ray were also cool and we talked a bit about camera equipment and local lakes we have frequented. Great guys and check them out at Cast312.com. Their hats were very good quality as well as was the t-shirt. Was great to meet you guys and hope to see you out on the water this year.
Back to business. I needed some new sunglasses and was looking for Strike King S11's. I could not find them anywhere at the show although I have to believe someone had them there because of the amount of retailers at the show. I did find the guys from Blue Fin Eyewear and liked the glasses they had on display. I tried them on and these were extremely comfortable and looked great. They were on sale for 25 dollars a pair which was very reasonable for this quality of glasses. Since we bought three pair, Steve gave them to us for 20 dollars a pair and they came with a lifetime guarantee. Great price! As we talked they were all the way from Louisiana. Great guys for sure and glad to meet them.
On the way out near the guys at BlueFin Eyewear I noticed Nick from Brookfield Angler. He was working the booth for Quest Watersports and I got a chance to say hi to him. Great guy and he has a great blog. Check him out at Brookfieldangler.com
Overall this show had a lot to offer in a relatively small package. There was a lot of tackle and gear for good show special prices and much better than the Rosemont Show. I highly recommend getting out and checking out this show before it ends tomorrow.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Solo Pheasants Coon Creek January 23,2016
Well needed to take advantage of the nice January weather we are having and got out again with the dogs to Coon Creek. I was going to try and go solo because I had nobody available to come along. I have never hunted pheasants on my own with my two pointers, Tino and Roxy.
We got to the club at 12:30 and it was a beautiful day. The temps were upper 20's and the wind was not blowing. I got ready and got the green light to hit the field. I had no idea how difficult it would be to film, hunt, and run the dogs. The dogs went on point shortly after we stepped into the field and Tino was on a bird. Roxy was honoring him as she does and I was trying to take a pic, video, and move in for the flush. Well, that did not work too well and the bird was up and on his feet as you can see by Tino creeping in towards him. This is customary for Tino or Roxy to do. They instinctively know that if the bird holds, they hold and if the bird creeps, they creep too. The bird took flight while I was putting away my iphone and I did not take the safety off and I did hit the bird but he flew a couple hundred yards away. We would get this bird later.
The camera angle was off a bit on my head cam and I think it was pointed too far up because the view was too high most of the video. We continued to hunt and I saw many birds. I did harvest 4, which with all I was trying to do felt pretty good. The dogs did great and Roxy continues to get better at carrying birds and is picking them up now. Tino is an absolute beast! He continues to become better and better and he is definitely a once in a lifetime dog. Anyone who has hunted over him can see that he is a special dog.
Well I did put together some video and feel that I'm getting comfortable with my new computer and new editing software. So here is the video and hopefully, I will be getting better with the camera angles and when I get my new camcorder, will be putting together some better quality vids in the future. Thanks for watching and visit me on facebook and instagram at adventuresmidwest!!!
We got to the club at 12:30 and it was a beautiful day. The temps were upper 20's and the wind was not blowing. I got ready and got the green light to hit the field. I had no idea how difficult it would be to film, hunt, and run the dogs. The dogs went on point shortly after we stepped into the field and Tino was on a bird. Roxy was honoring him as she does and I was trying to take a pic, video, and move in for the flush. Well, that did not work too well and the bird was up and on his feet as you can see by Tino creeping in towards him. This is customary for Tino or Roxy to do. They instinctively know that if the bird holds, they hold and if the bird creeps, they creep too. The bird took flight while I was putting away my iphone and I did not take the safety off and I did hit the bird but he flew a couple hundred yards away. We would get this bird later.
The camera angle was off a bit on my head cam and I think it was pointed too far up because the view was too high most of the video. We continued to hunt and I saw many birds. I did harvest 4, which with all I was trying to do felt pretty good. The dogs did great and Roxy continues to get better at carrying birds and is picking them up now. Tino is an absolute beast! He continues to become better and better and he is definitely a once in a lifetime dog. Anyone who has hunted over him can see that he is a special dog.
Well I did put together some video and feel that I'm getting comfortable with my new computer and new editing software. So here is the video and hopefully, I will be getting better with the camera angles and when I get my new camcorder, will be putting together some better quality vids in the future. Thanks for watching and visit me on facebook and instagram at adventuresmidwest!!!
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
More Late Season Pheasants
Well this is typically the time of year the dogs and I and my friends really get on the pheasants. It is a great time of year to hunt pheasants because the colder weather affects them in that they hold better and the points are usually intense. It also makes it easier to harvest birds because they are not running and if you have ever seen a pheasant run, they can move out!!!
We hunt Coon Creek Hunt Club in Garden Prairie Illinois. They are great and treat my guests and I awesome every time we go out. They really go the extra mile to make hunters feel at home.
Today was not planned and my friend Bill and I talked Thursday night to determine that Saturday afternoon would be colder, but a good day overall to get out. I made the call and put out 6 birds for us. This is a little light on birds but every time we have gone out, we have seen many more than what we put out. This trip was no exception. It is also great to get out later in the season because the amount of birds running around on the property is staggering.
We hit the field at about 1:00 and by 1:20, we had three opportunities. It is amazing watching the dogs work and how they can pinpoint the birds. I am lucky to have two German Short haired Pointers and two good ones at that. My liver and white male is an absolute beast!
He is turning 7 on St. Patrick's Day this year but still hunts as if he is two or three. He is driven like I have never seen and just keeps going. In fact, I feel sorry for my young female because he finds the birds so fast, she does not get a chance to point a lot of birds. She is a two year old female and learns every time we go out. My big male ranges very far and covers a lot of ground whereas, she works in close and is always looking to see where the hunters are and also where Tino my male is. She then seems to make decisions on where to go on that. It is really amazing because it seems as though she is thinking about where she wants to go. We saw 10 birds and only put six out. This was actually a slow day because several weeks ago, we put out six and took home fourteen. No complaints though because the reason we only got six was we were practicing conservation and missed several. My friend Bill was having a bit of gun trouble, and I was jut not really shooting that well.
I have a video of the outing and am happy to be back at making videos due to my Macbook crashing. I now have a new machine with new software for editing. This is a story for another time and I will be putting up a review of the machine which is an MSI GE-72 Dominator. I am super happy with this machine so far and will be adding a new professional camcorder to enhance the videos that I will be producing.
Don't forget to check out the Youtube channel and subscribe if you like it. Send some feedback good or bad so I can continue to improve the quality of my videos. Thanks for reading and check out the video.
We hunt Coon Creek Hunt Club in Garden Prairie Illinois. They are great and treat my guests and I awesome every time we go out. They really go the extra mile to make hunters feel at home.
Today was not planned and my friend Bill and I talked Thursday night to determine that Saturday afternoon would be colder, but a good day overall to get out. I made the call and put out 6 birds for us. This is a little light on birds but every time we have gone out, we have seen many more than what we put out. This trip was no exception. It is also great to get out later in the season because the amount of birds running around on the property is staggering.
We hit the field at about 1:00 and by 1:20, we had three opportunities. It is amazing watching the dogs work and how they can pinpoint the birds. I am lucky to have two German Short haired Pointers and two good ones at that. My liver and white male is an absolute beast!
He is turning 7 on St. Patrick's Day this year but still hunts as if he is two or three. He is driven like I have never seen and just keeps going. In fact, I feel sorry for my young female because he finds the birds so fast, she does not get a chance to point a lot of birds. She is a two year old female and learns every time we go out. My big male ranges very far and covers a lot of ground whereas, she works in close and is always looking to see where the hunters are and also where Tino my male is. She then seems to make decisions on where to go on that. It is really amazing because it seems as though she is thinking about where she wants to go. We saw 10 birds and only put six out. This was actually a slow day because several weeks ago, we put out six and took home fourteen. No complaints though because the reason we only got six was we were practicing conservation and missed several. My friend Bill was having a bit of gun trouble, and I was jut not really shooting that well.
I have a video of the outing and am happy to be back at making videos due to my Macbook crashing. I now have a new machine with new software for editing. This is a story for another time and I will be putting up a review of the machine which is an MSI GE-72 Dominator. I am super happy with this machine so far and will be adding a new professional camcorder to enhance the videos that I will be producing.
Don't forget to check out the Youtube channel and subscribe if you like it. Send some feedback good or bad so I can continue to improve the quality of my videos. Thanks for reading and check out the video.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Late season pheasants!!!
I haven't been out in a while with the dogs because of so much time invested deer hunting this year and the weather being a bit out of the norm. The pheasant fields were flooded pretty heavily anyway and the last time out, we were having a difficult time with walking due to the deep water. We still did pretty good considering the dogs did most of the work.
This story begins with my birthday being on January 5 and I just did not want to go to work, so I called up the pheasant club, and they said the fields are more than huntable now and to come on out. I made a reservation and invited my cousin to come with so I had an extra gun. I had no idea what we would be in store for!
We got out to the club like many other times and said hi to the people working and putting the birds out and got ready to hunt. Jim, one of the gentlemen that works there said he saw a bunch of pheasants grouped up in the field we would be hunting and gave directions on where they were. I half listened and just kept getting ready to hunt. We were ready to go and proceeded to get the dogs out of the care and walk to the field.
We get into the field and my big male takes exactly one minute and thirty seconds to go on point! I flushed the bird and thought I made a good shot. Well the pheasant was running and as it turned out, he ran directly into a hawk that must have been doing a little pheasant hunting of his own. In the video you will see the rooster run across the road and then minutes later, we saw the hawk take off and the rooster was already being eaten. The hawk made quick work of that poor little pheasant. As we kept working down the field with the dogs we approached the end of the field and only saw that one bird. I was getting a bit disappointed because we were just told how many were bunched up in that field. We kept walking and working down the tree line on the far side of our field. Then about mid way down the fence line we could see the heads of about 25 pheasants running down the rows of sorghum. We followed close behind the dogs and they both went on point. We flushed the bird and got him, and then it happened. We turned as another bird took flight and there were about 50 pheasants in the air. I have never see a flock of pheasants like that in my life. This was really cool. The dogs of course went nuts tracking them and I could only imagine how much scent was out there for them to smell.
We continued working this field and the birds were going up four and five at a time. We were actually running out of shells as they would come up. This was a truly special day to be out in the woods with a good friend and my two dogs Tino and Roxy, who when I think about it are the real stars of the day. They consistently find birds in the field and sometimes it is amazing how they can find a downed bird so far from where we hit them. Without the dogs, we would not even have half the birds that we do. I am particulary luck with my two pointers because they can really get them going.
I am hoping I can get the video link up here because the file would not load to youtube like normal but I did get it into Facebook. So please check out my Facebook page Adventures Midwest and see the whole video!!!!!
Thanks for reading! Hopefully I will get the video thing sorted out!!!!
This story begins with my birthday being on January 5 and I just did not want to go to work, so I called up the pheasant club, and they said the fields are more than huntable now and to come on out. I made a reservation and invited my cousin to come with so I had an extra gun. I had no idea what we would be in store for!
We got out to the club like many other times and said hi to the people working and putting the birds out and got ready to hunt. Jim, one of the gentlemen that works there said he saw a bunch of pheasants grouped up in the field we would be hunting and gave directions on where they were. I half listened and just kept getting ready to hunt. We were ready to go and proceeded to get the dogs out of the care and walk to the field.
We get into the field and my big male takes exactly one minute and thirty seconds to go on point! I flushed the bird and thought I made a good shot. Well the pheasant was running and as it turned out, he ran directly into a hawk that must have been doing a little pheasant hunting of his own. In the video you will see the rooster run across the road and then minutes later, we saw the hawk take off and the rooster was already being eaten. The hawk made quick work of that poor little pheasant. As we kept working down the field with the dogs we approached the end of the field and only saw that one bird. I was getting a bit disappointed because we were just told how many were bunched up in that field. We kept walking and working down the tree line on the far side of our field. Then about mid way down the fence line we could see the heads of about 25 pheasants running down the rows of sorghum. We followed close behind the dogs and they both went on point. We flushed the bird and got him, and then it happened. We turned as another bird took flight and there were about 50 pheasants in the air. I have never see a flock of pheasants like that in my life. This was really cool. The dogs of course went nuts tracking them and I could only imagine how much scent was out there for them to smell.
We continued working this field and the birds were going up four and five at a time. We were actually running out of shells as they would come up. This was a truly special day to be out in the woods with a good friend and my two dogs Tino and Roxy, who when I think about it are the real stars of the day. They consistently find birds in the field and sometimes it is amazing how they can find a downed bird so far from where we hit them. Without the dogs, we would not even have half the birds that we do. I am particulary luck with my two pointers because they can really get them going.
I am hoping I can get the video link up here because the file would not load to youtube like normal but I did get it into Facebook. So please check out my Facebook page Adventures Midwest and see the whole video!!!!!
Thanks for reading! Hopefully I will get the video thing sorted out!!!!
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Got the bug!!!!!
Well I have not been writing all that much over the past several years and this past hunting season got me thinking that I have my blog page setup and why not get going again. I have had some cool things happen this hunting season and I am feeling bad for not documenting them because they are once in a lifetime events. For example, while out deer hunting I witnessed one of the most intense deer fights I have ever seen. Then I rattled one of the big boys in and he was a large deer. I did not get a shot at him because my release broke but what an experience. This is just a short notice that I will hopefully do better at documenting my outings in the future.
I will be buying a much better camera for videos of fishing, hunting, dog training, and anything else I manage to get myself into!! I am looking forward to starting to write again and will be bringing some educational videos as well. So keep an eye out for my new entries and hopefully I will not get into too much trouble!!!! Thanks for listening and I will be back soon with some new material.
For now, check out my Youtube page 1080tommy1 which does have some newer videos of hunting outings. For example, there is a cool video of when I got to fly an AT-6 Texan with Gauntlet Warbirds. I will hopefully have some new videos of Tino and Roxy my two German Shorthaired Pointers working out at Coon Creek Hunt Club soon too!!!!
See you out there. Tight lines and Shoot straight.
I will be buying a much better camera for videos of fishing, hunting, dog training, and anything else I manage to get myself into!! I am looking forward to starting to write again and will be bringing some educational videos as well. So keep an eye out for my new entries and hopefully I will not get into too much trouble!!!! Thanks for listening and I will be back soon with some new material.
For now, check out my Youtube page 1080tommy1 which does have some newer videos of hunting outings. For example, there is a cool video of when I got to fly an AT-6 Texan with Gauntlet Warbirds. I will hopefully have some new videos of Tino and Roxy my two German Shorthaired Pointers working out at Coon Creek Hunt Club soon too!!!!
See you out there. Tight lines and Shoot straight.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Lost and Found!!!!!!
I have not posted in a while because I have been in a fishing rut but now that is all over. This morning was to be an epic journey that will not soon be forgotten!!!
Well me and a friend decided to go fish early today because he had some work to do on his new house. This was to be an interesting day for sure but started out unremarkably with me arriving at my friend's house at 5am. We were going out to Look Lake in Lake County to try and get some bass and or a northern because Dave has never caught a northern. The drive up was pleasant and we got to the boat launch as the sun began to rise. Dave forgot some stuff in the care but once he got his hat and glasses, the boat was fired up and ran great. We made it to the channel first and started to cast frogs in search of some early topwater action.
Topwater has been disappointing this year for sure but Dave got a blow up on his first or second cast and I thought this was going to be the ticket. We did not get anything after that and proceeded to move out a bit into 3-5fow to throw flukes. This yielded nothing as well. I was wondering, is this going to be a typical July outing for us???? Dave decided to throw on a shallow running bomber and within a few casts he got a nice almost 2lb largie. I decided that I wanted to use a KVD 1.5 chartreuse and black back and I got a good one that made up over 3lbs. We continued in 7-9fow and threw exclusively cranks and got steady action with largies for most of the early morning. Then I got a small hammer handle pike. We continued with out pattern until we noticed a change in the weed line where it was apparent weed killer had been applied. We went back to our starting position and began the troll again.
This is where things get interesting. On about the third or forth cast I see Dave hook a good one. The fish was not fighting hard so I thought it was a nice bass but it was his first northern and it was a nicer one. No hammer handle there. Now I had just casted out and began to retrieve when I saw this and recognizing it would be Dave's first northern, I sprung into action. I put my rod down and helped him land the fish. After some struggling with his sweatshirt, he had a nice 4lb northern that was pretty long and just as I gave him the fish to get a quick pic before releasing it, the unthinkable happened.
In the blink of an eye my Abu Garcia Veritas and Shimano Chronarch Combo is ripped over the transom of the boat. Now this was terrible and I think I was in shock as I saw the 500 dollar + combo slowly sink into the depths of East Look Lake. I was not paying attention however, in the distance as Dave maneuvered the boat with the Ipilot to get to where the rod entered the water, a nice little pike comes out of the water. I was ready to give up at this point because I was so depressed that one of my favorite combos just went into the drink. Long story longer, Dave kept his composure and 10 minutes later or so says, "Dude, I see it!!!!" I could not believe it and he expertly moved the boat into position to make the rescue. As we got to the rod, another pike jumped and we both thought this was weird and Dave said " Do you think there is a fish on your line. I said there is no way but as I reeled in the slack, there was a tug on the other end. We had unknowingly got our first northern double and this little feisty pike was the culprit of how my rod got ripped over the transom.
Moral of the story, never, and I mean never, leave a rod and reel with line and a lure out in the lake because you never know when a crazy little fish may come along and want your rig more than you do!!!!! This was a great morning of fishing with several bigger bass taken along with three nice little northerns. I took the reel home and she came apart for some maintenance and is now back in service. I have two vids one is the fishing portion of the morning and the second is just the chaos that ensued after the rod was stolen!!! Hope you enjoy the vids!!!
Well me and a friend decided to go fish early today because he had some work to do on his new house. This was to be an interesting day for sure but started out unremarkably with me arriving at my friend's house at 5am. We were going out to Look Lake in Lake County to try and get some bass and or a northern because Dave has never caught a northern. The drive up was pleasant and we got to the boat launch as the sun began to rise. Dave forgot some stuff in the care but once he got his hat and glasses, the boat was fired up and ran great. We made it to the channel first and started to cast frogs in search of some early topwater action.
Topwater has been disappointing this year for sure but Dave got a blow up on his first or second cast and I thought this was going to be the ticket. We did not get anything after that and proceeded to move out a bit into 3-5fow to throw flukes. This yielded nothing as well. I was wondering, is this going to be a typical July outing for us???? Dave decided to throw on a shallow running bomber and within a few casts he got a nice almost 2lb largie. I decided that I wanted to use a KVD 1.5 chartreuse and black back and I got a good one that made up over 3lbs. We continued in 7-9fow and threw exclusively cranks and got steady action with largies for most of the early morning. Then I got a small hammer handle pike. We continued with out pattern until we noticed a change in the weed line where it was apparent weed killer had been applied. We went back to our starting position and began the troll again.
This is where things get interesting. On about the third or forth cast I see Dave hook a good one. The fish was not fighting hard so I thought it was a nice bass but it was his first northern and it was a nicer one. No hammer handle there. Now I had just casted out and began to retrieve when I saw this and recognizing it would be Dave's first northern, I sprung into action. I put my rod down and helped him land the fish. After some struggling with his sweatshirt, he had a nice 4lb northern that was pretty long and just as I gave him the fish to get a quick pic before releasing it, the unthinkable happened.
In the blink of an eye my Abu Garcia Veritas and Shimano Chronarch Combo is ripped over the transom of the boat. Now this was terrible and I think I was in shock as I saw the 500 dollar + combo slowly sink into the depths of East Look Lake. I was not paying attention however, in the distance as Dave maneuvered the boat with the Ipilot to get to where the rod entered the water, a nice little pike comes out of the water. I was ready to give up at this point because I was so depressed that one of my favorite combos just went into the drink. Long story longer, Dave kept his composure and 10 minutes later or so says, "Dude, I see it!!!!" I could not believe it and he expertly moved the boat into position to make the rescue. As we got to the rod, another pike jumped and we both thought this was weird and Dave said " Do you think there is a fish on your line. I said there is no way but as I reeled in the slack, there was a tug on the other end. We had unknowingly got our first northern double and this little feisty pike was the culprit of how my rod got ripped over the transom.
Moral of the story, never, and I mean never, leave a rod and reel with line and a lure out in the lake because you never know when a crazy little fish may come along and want your rig more than you do!!!!! This was a great morning of fishing with several bigger bass taken along with three nice little northerns. I took the reel home and she came apart for some maintenance and is now back in service. I have two vids one is the fishing portion of the morning and the second is just the chaos that ensued after the rod was stolen!!! Hope you enjoy the vids!!!
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